Mullein seeds - imposing flower spikes for dry, sunny spots
Mulleins rank among the most striking wild and garden perennials for sunny, dry positions. From a leaf rosette held flat to the ground, tall candle-like flower spikes rise in the second year, reaching well over two metres depending on the species. Sowing mullein seed brings a plant into the garden that reads from a long way off, flowers for weeks and asks remarkably little in return.
The genus Verbascum holds several hundred species and is found across Europe, western Asia, North Africa and other regions. Most mulleins flower in bright yellow, though species and cultivars with white, violet or purple flowers exist as well. The upright habit with its long spikes is characteristic, and the individual flowers open one after another, which stretches flowering over many weeks.
Mullein wants full sun, warmth and free-draining soil on the lean side. It settles particularly well into gravel gardens, sunny beds of hardy perennials on poor, free-draining soil, banks, wildflower areas and naturalistic corners of the garden. There it works as a conspicuous structural plant and at the same time as a valuable source of forage for bees, bumblebees, butterflies and other insects.
Many species are biennial or short-lived. In the first year they form a sturdy leaf rosette, in the second the tall flower spikes appear. After flowering many plants die, yet they hold their ground where conditions suit them by self-seeding. The result is a living planting in which mullein keeps reappearing, giving the garden a natural momentum.
- Mullein seed for sunny, dry positions, gravel gardens, sunny beds on poor soil and wild gardens
- Imposing Verbascum species with tall flower spikes, a long season and presence from a distance
- Suited to low-maintenance, insect-friendly plantings on lean, free-draining soil
As a luminous focal point, as a wild perennial for dry corners of the garden or as a historic medicinal plant with a long tradition, mullein grown from seed brings height, light and something of the wild into the garden.
